Constitutional Convention

George Washington wrote of the period between the Treaty of Paris
and the writing of the Constitution that the states were united
only by a "rope of sand."Disputes between Maryland and Virginia
over navigation on the Potomac River led to a conference of
representatives of five states at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786.
One of the delegates, Alexander Hamilton, convinced his
colleagues that commerce was too much bound up with other
political and economic questions, and that the situation was too
serious to be dealt with by so unrepresentative a body.

He advocated calling upon all the states to appoint
representatives for a meeting to be held the following spring in
Philadelphia. The Continental Congress was at first indignant
over this bold step, but its protests were cut short by the news
that Virginia had elected George Washington a delegate. During
the next fall and winter, elections were held in all states but
Rhode Island.

It was a gathering of notables that assembled at the Federal
Convention in the Philadelphia State House in May 1787. The state
legislatures sent leaders with experience in colonial and state
governments, in Congress, on the bench and in the army. George
Washington, regarded as the country's outstanding citizen because
of his integrity and his military leadership during the
Revolution, was chosen as presiding officer.

Prominent among the more active members were two Pennsylvanians:
Gouverneur Morris, who clearly saw the need for national
government, and James Wilson, who labored indefatigably for the
national idea. Also elected by Pennsylvania was Benjamin
Franklin, nearing the end of an extraordinary career of public
service and scientific achievement. From Virginia came James
Madison, a practical young statesman, a thorough student of
politics and history and, according to a colleague, "from a
spirit of industry and application...the best-informed man on any
point in debate." Madison today is recognized as the "Father of
the Constitution."

Massachusetts sent Rufus King and Elbridge Gerry, young men of
ability and experience. Roger Sherman, shoemaker turned judge,
was one of the representatives from Connecticut. From New York
came Alexander Hamilton, who had proposed the meeting. Absent
from the Convention were Thomas Jefferson, who was serving in
France as minister, and John Adams, serving in the same capacity
in Great Britain. Youth predominated among the 55 delegates --
the average age was 42.

The Convention had been authorized merely to draft amendments to
the Articles of Confederation but, as Madison later wrote, the
delegates, "with a manly confidence in their country," simply
threw the Articles aside and went ahead with the building of a
wholly new form of government.

They recognized that the paramount need was to reconcile two
different powers -- the power of local control, which was already
being exercised by the 13 semi-independent states, and the power
of a central government. They adopted the principle that the
functions and powers of the national government, being new,
general and inclusive, had to be carefully defined and stated,
while all other functions and powers were to be understood as
belonging to the states. But realizing that the central
government had to have real power, the delegates also generally
accepted the fact that the government should be authorized --
among other things -- to coin money, to regulate commerce, to
declare war and to make peace.